The first round of the NHL playoffs finished Sunday night. capping off an exciting two weeks of hockey.  Though no round went to seven games, many upsets and a record-breaking 18 overtimes created a lot of intrigue.

The thrills of the first round can be mostly credited to the bracket format of the playoffs that the NHL introduced in 2014. The idea of the new format was to revitalize many rivalries within the league’s four divisions.

Though this has created many entertaining matchups in the early rounds of the playoffs, it has proven that the NHL regular season is completely meaningless.

The most hyped matchup of the second round this season consists of the Washington Capitals, boasting the NHL’s best record in the regular season, versus the Pittsburgh Penguins, who finished second in the standings.

The other three series this round include the sixth-best record Anaheim Ducks versus the eighth-best Edmonton Oilers, the ninth-best New York Rangers versus the 12th-place Ottawa Senators, and the tenth-best St. Louis Blues against the 16th team in the standings, the Nashville Predators.

It does not take a brain surgeon to realize that the format makes completely no sense.

Teams play a very grueling 82-game season to qualify for the playoffs but once a team is in, the previous seven months of grind mean absolutely nothing.

What is the reward for the Capitals winning a historic number of games and finishing first out of all 30 NHL teams? Well, they have to face the Penguins, who are defending Stanley Cup Champions and the closest team to Washington in the standings this season.

Many experts figure that this matchup will ultimately decide the championship, with the two best teams remaining going at it in the second round.

Similar to the 1980 Winter Olympics, where the United States performed the biggest upset in history over the Soviet Union in the ice hockey semifinals, this creates a very anticlimactic ending to the greatest tournament in all of sport.

Even worse than the champion being decided in the second week, it remains a possibility that the winner of the series could be upset by a far less superior team. The credibility of the NHL playoffs could take a severe hit if the unquestioned best team in the field runs into a hot goalie and forfeits the title to a team with no place even being there.

No matter the result of the series between Pittsburgh and Washington, let’s hope the victor follows the path of the Miracle on Ice by winning the Gold too.